Best Fishing Stores

best tackle stores

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When talking fishing tackle, rarely do we discuss the best fishing stores to acquire said fishing tackle. We’re fortunate to have so many options to find and purchase fishing tackle across the country and online.

While I like the convenience of buying tackle online, and taking advantages of sales when they happen, I also am a huge advocate of going to your local tackle shop and getting hands on with tackle before you buy. We spend a lot of time sharing our experiences with the best tackle we come across to hopefully shorten your time in a tackle shop. But fishing is a very personal experience, and what one angler loves, another one hates. So it’s a good idea to at least pick up a rod or turn a reel handle before you buy sometimes.

Then there is also the fact that a lot of fishing tackle is only available in certain regional locales. I love finding those off the beaten path shops that have a treasure trove of local staples that I can take back to my lake and experiment with on my own.

We’ve shopped for tackle and worked with many different tackle retailers over the last few decades and thought it would be nice to highlight some of the best tackle shops out there both globally online and “big-box” wise as well as the best shops in every state. So we reached out to our readers and asked for their opinions on the best tackle shops out there. We received thousands of responses back that we’ve compiled into lists based on the number of responses we got.

If one place had 40 people recommending it, it’s probably top of the list.

This should be a great resource for our angling community that we will add to and update as we go. Ultimately we will would like to generate a map of tackle shops all over the US and even beyond so you when you are on your fishing trips, you know the best places to stop in and browse.

Recommended Fishing Stores

Let’s look at the best online and overall fishing stores first and then go state by state with the privately owned tackle shops.

tacklewarehouse.com

BEST ONLINE FISHING STORE FOR BASS GEAR

TackleWarehouse.com

It’s hard to argue that if you’re a bass fisherman and need something for bass fishing, Tackle Warehouse will likely have it. And for a long time, it had the best shipping bar none in fishing. Others have gotten more comparable now. But I was always amazed that something I ordered on Monday in California was at my house on Wednesday via regular old UPS with TW.

They carry pretty much everything you could ever need for bass fishing and then some. Obviously no one can carry everything with so many small companies cropping up every year. But they do a great job staying on top of trends and working with manufacturers on new product releases to keep anglers stocked with the latest and greatest.

And they have great holiday sales that make stocking up on staples less painful.

Find them online at TackleWarehouse.com.

bass pro shopsBEST BIG BOX FISHING STORES

Bass Pro Shops

There is still something special about going to the Bass Pro Shops and shopping. The original fishing megastore, Bass Pro Shops expanded out of its single store in Springfield, Mo. to a chain of stores all over the fishing country.

The experience is worth the trip with things like the Wonders of Wildlife add-on at the Springfield Store and the conversion of the old Pyramid in Memphis into a Bass Pro and hotel.

But they also have great in-house brands. The Johnny Morris rods and reels are solid as is the XPS brand of line and baits.

Their online experience is adequate and you will find a lot of the popular baits you want there as well. And they carry tackle for a multitude of species from bluegill to catfish to trout and saltwater as well. So it’s a one stop shop for all your fishing needs.

You can find them online at Basspro.com, but visiting them in person is probably more fun. The Pyramid in Memphis is awesome with a great hotel. And if you go to the original store in Springfield, you should really check out the Wonders of Wildlife museum. So much wildlife and incredible aquariums there.

Academy Sports

Compared to some of the other brands, Academy is still a newer player in fishing but their stores have great fishing sections and their in-house brands are top notch at really great prices. Plus they also have several deals with the top manufacturers in fishing to have exclusive lines and series that are only available at Academy stores. So that gives you an in on some hard to find and limited fishing gear.

Find them online at Academy.com, but we found it a tad bit harder to find tackle online than shopping direct at their stores.

Scheels

This was a late addition and came on the advice of our readership. I personally don’t have any experience with Scheels as I’ve never been in one of their stores.  We don’t have access to these stores down south. But all of my northern angler friends say their customer service is some of the absolute best in the space along with very fast shipping. And the stores are always well stocked and clean.

Check them out at Scheels.com.

FishUSA

BEST FISHING STORE FOR ICE FISHING GEAR

FishUSA.com

Still not as well known as some of the other big box and online fishing stores, FishUSA has a ton of gear for freshwater fishing and one of the largest selections of ice fishing gear you will find online. They carry a wide variety of products from spoons, jigs, line, rods, reels, augers, and more. And the carry a lot of colors, options and sizes. You can load up on all your ice fishing gear in one stop for the season.

It’s a great place to buy tackle for panfish as well as bass for open water fishing as well.

Find them online at FishUSA.com.

Grizzly jig

BEST FISHING STORE FOR CRAPPIE FISHING GEAR

Grizzly Jig

Their super store in Caruthersville, Mo. is worth a visit if you’re a die-hard crappie angler, but you can also order anything they have over the phone or most of it on the internet. They are one of the few fishing stores that still prefers to work with phone order customers

They have the largest selection of crappie baits, rods, reels, and gear you will find anywhere. And they have a big open house every year where all the crappie pros and manufacturers come under one roof to talk fishing for a few days.

Find them online at GrizzlyJig.com.

Bait Finesse Empire
Photo by hobie_wan_kenobi

BEST FISHING STORE FOR BAIT FINESSE SYSTEM GEAR

BaitFinesseEmpire.com

Bait Finesse System fishing or BFS is still fairly new in the states but it’s a quickly growing segment where ultra finesse bait casting systems are geared differently to throw ultra light weight finesse lures aimed at catching very pressured fish. It was made popular in trout and panfish applications and is becoming a staple among Japanese anglers with more followers coming on board in the states.

A few companies are dabbling now in the crappie market too. So it’s expanding and growing based on it’s success and ability to catch the weariest of fish in a system.

Bait Finesse Empire has a ton of BFS products from reels, rods, line, terminal, lures, accessories, and more. They offer a ton of hard to find JDM finesse products and a lot of great price points on gear mostly coming out of Japan. Samir does an excellent job seeking out the latest and greatest BFS products and getting them in store quickly. Shipping is really great even on products coming from overseas.

If you’re into the finesse fishing game, you need to bookmark BaitFinesseEmpire.com.

carolina fishing tackle

BEST FISHING STORES FOR JDM / HARD TO FIND TACKLE

Carolina Fishing Tackle

While there are a few online places to find JDM Tackle, Carolina Fishing Tackle seems to always have the stuff people are talking about stateside, where most of the other places are coming from overseas. They have specialized in JDM product, take great care in curating their inventory with just the good products, and have a cool custom brick and mortar store front in North Carolina.

The hand written notes on the orders is a nice touch as well. Great service and selection on some hard to find bass products.

Find them online at CarolinaFishingTackle.com.

The Hook up Tackle

This is another great source of JDM tackle as well as the other hard to find stuff that trends out west. Located near Phoenix, Ariz. the have an awesome shop with one of the largest selections of Megabass products you will find as well as a bunch of hard to find brands. If niche tackle is your game, this is the shop for you.

Their online store is awesome with good shipping. Check them out at TheHookUpTackle.com.

Digitaka.com

This is one of the best straight from Japan JDM shops on the Internet. The shipping is actually quite fast coming across the ocean. I’ve ordered a couple BFS reels from them at good prices and the shipping was surprisingly fast considering the distance travelled. There selection is pretty incredible on JDM product.

Check them out at Digitaka.com

BEST FISHING STORES FOR DEALS

Sportsmans Outfitters

They have had some of the best deals we’ve seen in fishing. Lots of BOGO (buy one get one) sales on rods, deep discounts on staples like JackHammers, Thunder Crickets, and other popular niche baits. If you’re not on their mailing list, you should get on it so you can catch when they have a crazy deal going, which is about every week.

Find them online at SportsmansOutfitters.com.

Discount Tackle

They also do a good job discounting some of the niche staples you love to fish with. They are definitely worth a bookmark to compare price shop if price is your determining factor.

Find them online at DiscountTackle.com.

omnia fishing a new idea in fishing stores

BEST PERSONALIZED FISHING STORE

Omnia Fishing

Arguably the most data driven fishing store or company you will find. They factor data from all over the country and keep up with trends, fishing reports and more to provide a personalized fishing experience and recommendations based on where and how you fish. It can customize your shopping experience with a tailored fishing store platform for online shoppers.

They have shown tremendous growth the last two years, and they are definitely the online fishing store you want to watch. They are investing a lot into a platform that will make shopping for fishing tackle easier and better for the angling community.

Find them online at OmniaFishing.com.

BEST FISHING STORE FOR FLY FISHING

The Fly Shop

They are said to have $1 Million in flies in the shop at any given time. That’s a lot of flies to cover a lot of bases at the Fly Shop in Redding, Calif. But this shop is a lot more than that. Not online do they have an immense tackle selectiton, but they also coordinate thousands of fly fishing trips stateside as well as hundreds of international fly fishing trips. On top of that they offer stream reports, put on fish camps and teach fly fishing classes plus a lot more. This is one of the best all around fly shops in the world.

Check them out online at theflyshop.com.

Barlows Tackle Catalog

BEST FISHING STORE FOR DIY FISHING SUPPLIES

Barlow’s Tackle

If you’re like me you like to tinker with tackle, make your own jigs, pour your own lead heads, tie materials, and more, then Barlow’s is the one stop shop to get all your supplies. I’ve been getting materials from here for more than a decade. They have a mail order catalog, as well as a website to find everything you need to pour, paint, tie and otherwise create your own fishing lures. You can visit their store front in Texas, order online or through their very popular catalog. If you’re a tinker and do-it-yourselfer, this will become one of your favorite fishing shops.

Find them online at BarlowsTackle.com.

Fishing Retail Partners

We have shopped at all of these places on numerous occasions and some we have affiliate relationships with now as a result of our frequency shopping there and the influence we have on fishing tackle purchases. You can see who those are on Fishing Retail Partners Page.

BEST INDEPENDENT FISHING TACKLE SHOPS BY STATE

To further service our audience, we compiled a list of the best tackle shops in each state thanks to the feedback of thousands of Wired2fish readers as well as our own team’s extensive fishing travels. I personally have been to a sampling of these shops and can vouch for a percentage of the places on this list. The rest come highly recommended by our audience and they are in order of the number of recommendations they got from our audience.

While not every shop is on the list, we are adding to this resource list all the time. If one of your favorites is missing, just reach out and let us know why it should be on the list and we’ll get it added. This is a resource for the angling community to be able to find the good tackle shops in every state.

We hope this resource will help anglers find the good independent fishing shops on their fishing travels.

Alaska Tackle Shops

Alabama Tackle Shops

Arkansas Tackle Shops

Arizona Tackle Shops

California Tackle Shops

Colorado Tackle Shops

Connecticut Tackle Shops

Delaware Tackle Shops

Florida Tackle Shops

Georgia Tackle Shops

Iowa Tackle Shops

Idaho Tackle Shops

Illinois Tackle Shops

Indiana Tackle Shops

Kansas Tackle Shops

Kentucky Tackle Shops

Louisiana Tackle Shops

Maine

Maryland

Massachusettes

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

Mississippi

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Virginia

Vermont

Washington

Wisconsin

West Virginia

Wyoming

READER RECOMMENDED TACKLE SHOPS IN OTHER COUNTRIES

Australia

  • Outback Angler — Dubbo, Australia

Canada

  • BJ Tackle — Bewdley, Ontario, Canada
  • Bill’s Bait and Tackle — Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
  • Gagnon Sports — Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
  • Grimsby Tackle — Grimsby, Ontario, Canada

Japan

  • Yaguchi Fishing Tackle Shop —Kanagawa Sagamihara-shi, Japan

Mexico

  • Black Bass Tienda De Pesca — Guadalajara, Mexico

Sweden

  • Söder Sportfiske — Stockholm, Sweden

Finland

  • Ruoto — Multiple locations across Finland